A Brit in Budapest

It's now the 18th September and I've just got home from lunch with church friends. I'm pretty sleepy as I got up to practice before church and I'm going to a concert later, maybe I'll have a nap after writing this...

Liszt Academy Grand Concert Hall

The weeks are flying by! I realised on Wednesday that it was nearly 2 weeks since I last blogged and just can't keep up with where the time is going! However, that means I've had significant progression in terms of sorting out my timetable and getting settled into some sort of routine and it's lovely to be feeling settled into the Academy as well now. My first proper Monday with classes was a shocker - 4.5 hours of music theory with only half an hour break! Yes, that was intense. Luckily I won't have that every week as I'm only going to take one music theory class and I can go to the other one if I want to practice simpler stuff or learn solfege. Thank goodness Erasmus allows for freedom in that respect! I am also really fortunate to have 2 individual trumpet lessons per week - that's definitely a motive to practice regularly! My teacher plays with the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and really seems to know what he wants so lessons are challenging but also very rewarding when I've put the work in. We're currently working on the Haydn trumpet concerto and I had never before realised how difficult it is to play well! Technically it isn't that hard but style is key to creating a good performance. I will also be learning the Böhme trumpet concerto in preparation for a competition against trumpet students from all over Hungary in December - scary but exciting!
I experienced the Liszt Academy main concert hall on Thursday - Hungarian Radio Symphony orchestra performed Brahms symphonies 1 and 3. The acoustics were fab and you can see how beautiful the hall is itself!

Of course, alongside all the studying I have had a bit of time for socialising and eating in many different, lovely places. About a week ago I went with my good friend Ellé to a small Hungarian restaurant near the Liszt Academy main building.We each tried a typical Hungarian dish with "noodles" - Chicken paprika for Ellé and Beef Goulash for me - and we each had a drink. TOTAL price was 2745Ft, sounds a lot right?
But when 330 Ft = £1, work it out... We couldn't believe it either.
Mind. Boggled.

Wood carving, photo
credit; Elle Crowhurst

I love trying new food, especially when it's cheap, but this stuff was cheap and absolutely delicious and I'll definitely be going there again! Or maybe every week...

Anyway just yesterday some friends and myself decided to be cultured and we went to Bela Bartók road in search of a Polish festival we had seen advertised. Unfortunately the weather was miserable and in true Hungarian style, no-one had any idea what was going on... Never fear, we wandered around and found a wood carving place so decided to have a go, but we didn't anticipate how hard it would be! Following this, I had my first experience of a Hummus bar and I was pleasantly surprised.

I'm not usually a huge hummus fan but when coupled with mushrooms and lots of pitta bread I was very satisfied! Following this we visited the Sweet Days Chocolate Festival held outside St Stephen's Basilica which looked and smelt amazing. I only had a little pot of melted chocolate but there were so many different types including donuts with a variety of chocolate toppings, YUM.

That's all for now folks, time to head off for some more practice and a possible nap I mentioned... Have a good week!

S x

CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL!

I have survived 2 weeks...

Funnily enough, I have more than survived, I still feel like I'm on holiday!

Reality has almost hit in that I'm actually getting prepared for studying hard now, but how can I not be happy when I'm studying at such an incredible institution? The past week has been intense but such a great learning curve for what to expect over the next 4 months (well, 3.5 months now). Choir was all in Hungarian, except when he gave bar numbers to start from if he was feeling kind! I don't profess to be a singer and sight-singing at full speed on it's own usually proves to be a challenge. Add to that a completely foreign language where 's' is 'sh', 'cs' is 'ch' and 'a' is 'o' and my mind is truly boggled. Luckily, I've made friends with some native speakers and some fellow Erasmus students, so I can ask for help simultaneously struggling in good company! Lots of practice to be done and I've not even started the trumpet lessons yet...
However, they will start on Friday and after hearing some of the students warming up yesterday, I'm definitely cramming in as much practice as I possibly can before then. I really can't wait to get stuck in and motivated, it's like starting university all over again! (I have already warned my parents there's a strong possibility I might stay here forever.) The only thing I'd need to get used to is the laid back atmosphere, which I have experienced even more of. I suppose it can only be good for you though right? A relaxed attitude leads to a relaxed mind or something like that.

Speaking of relaxation, if you're ever in Budpest you should go to the Citadel, simply for the view. We went just before sunset and saw this beautiful city in daylight and also after the sun had dropped behind the mountains and the main buildings and bridges were lit up. If you're able to hike up lots of stairs, 100% would recommend.
I continued my adventures at the weekend mainly on the Buda side of the river. Here I headed up to the Castle district to see St Matthias church, Buda Castle and Fisherman's Bastion with the last being my favourite because of it's beautiful views and charming appearance. On the way back home I stopped by St Stephen's Basilica and although I didn't go inside, the outside is pretty cool to look at. I also had a fantastic time with 2 new friends being big kids at the water park on St Margaret Island (different place to last time) where they had 4 big slides, a lazy river and a wave machine! I'm so glad I made the most of the weekend as the weather turned for worse on Monday, boooo. But I suppose my English mind had been deprived of rain and I'll appreciate the sun more when it (hopefully) returns tomorrow.
I haven't taken any pictures of food unfortunately, but trust me when I tell you it's great. Maybe I'll do a whole post on food at some point mmmm.

S x

Fisherman's Bastion

Statue at the Citadel

St Matthias church

St Stephen's Basilica

Buda Castle